First, I want to acknowledge the 2017 Pushcart nominees (listed in order of appearance). It is with great pleasure that we tell the world of your contribution:
Burgess Needle
“The woman from the end of the paved road” (Issue 33, May 2017)
https://liquidimagination.silverpen.org/article/woman-end-paved-road-burgess-needle/ Ann Thornfield-Long
“Keeping Room” (Issue 34, August 2017)
Bruce Boston
“One More Shade in the Shadow City” (Issue 34, August 2017)
Megan Denese Mealor
“Before the Beginning” (Issue 35, November 2017)
Second, I will say thank you to the poets in this issue. The selection opens with an imagery-rich collage of short pensive poems that are loosely connected (Desiring the Earth by Margarita Serafimova). The final image of a breathless buzzard segues into the first line of the next poem with “they breathe” ( There are Still Dragons in London, Saint George by Dawn Vogel). This poem about dragons is a lament. This is followed by a shift in mood and tone (Hazel by Marie Vibbert). This piece is a wonderful experiment in sonics and can serve as a performance piece as well as for the eye on the page. In another experiment, the following poem (Passing Words by Phil Capitano) uses a conversational technique with long lines and repeated phrases. Sometimes loss is best expressed in the simplest language. A touch of the macabre follows, but transcends death (Cinnamon Coffin by Vanessa Kittle). Finally, the ending poem (Downfall by Chandan Dey ) returns to nature images as in the oening poem, which sums it all up.
John C. Mannone
Poetry Editor